Polishing apparatus



June 29, 1965 D. R. YOKEL 3,191,350

POLISHING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 8, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIGJ June 29, 1965 D. R. YOKEL 3,191,350

POLISHING APPARATUS Filed Jan. s, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet z FRICTION SPACER United States Patent 3,191,350 POLEHING APPARATUS Donald R. Yohel, Glenshaw, Pa, assignor to Schatiner Manufacturing Qompany, Inc, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Jan. 8, 1963, Ser. No. 250,114 9 Claims. (Cl. 51-336) Thisinvention relates to the polishing and bufling art and hasparticular relationship to polishing apparatus and wheels for such apparatus. One of the important objects of this invention is to expand the utility of wheels of the general type disclosed in application Serial No. 809,647, filed April 29, 1959, to Paul E. Schaiiner and assigned to Schaffner Manufacturing Co. This Schaifner application is incorporated herein by reference.

The word polishing is used in this application in its general sense and is intended to include other surface treating operations than polishing such as buffing or finishing.

The Schaffner application discloses a polishing wheel including an annulus of flaps bonded near their inner ends to form a hub from which the remainder of the flaps extend as leaves. The flaps usually have an abrasive face and a non-abrasive face and are mounted in the annulus with the abrasive face of each flap abutting the non-abrasive face of the adjacent flap. The hub portions and the leaf portions of the flaps are coincident around the whole periphery of the wheel. closed in the Schaffner application have been sold and have performed satisfactorily in the bufiing of relatively narrow work such as narrow automobile parts. Cost and the usual physical and mechanical limitation preclude the making of such a wheel having a width greater than six inches parallel to the axis of the annulus and the wide parts are usually considerably wider than six inches. Gauging or alignment of an array of wheels has proved unsatisfactory because the work, after being buffed, has streaks which are the areas unbuiied at the spaces between the ganged wheels.

In accordance with the teachings of the prior art a wheel which attempts to correct this deficiency has been provided. In this wheel the fiaps are arranged in a spiral.

Adjacent wheels can then be mounted with the fiaps overlapping in sweeping over the surface being buffed. But

this wheel requires a complicated hub which is difficult to make and to handle. In the use of such polishing wheels flanges are secured to the end wheels of an array or gang and the wheels are driven through these flanges from a shaft. The flanges for these prior art wheels are highly complicated.

It is an object of this invention to extend the use of wheels of the general type disclosed in Schafr'ner application to the polishing of wide work such as the.

tenders and the body parts of automobile. It is another object of this invention to provide polishing apparatus not involving the complications of the spiral wheel for polishing work considerably wider than six inches without producing streaks along the work. Another object of this invention is to provide a polishing wheel for such apparatus and a further object of this invention is to provide flaps for such a polishing wheel. Still a further object of this invention is to provide a method of making such flaps.

In accordance with this invention a polishing wheel is provided in which the leaves of certain of the flaps are displaced in the direction of the axis of the wheel with respect to the leaves of certain others of the flaps. When such a wheel is in operation, the outer edges of the'most outwardly displaced leaves polish an area which overlaps the end of the area polished by the leaves which are dis- Many wheels as dis-' "ice placedinwardly so that any streak which the latter leaves might leave are eliminated by the former. V

Specifically the different sets of leaves may extend over dififerent segments, for example quadrants, of the periphery of the wheel. The leaves of one set of segments may extend axially beyond the leaves of the other set at one end axially of the leaves and the leaves of the latter may extend axially beyond the leaves of the former at the opposite end of the leaves.

In accordance with a further aspect of this invention flaps are provided for such wheels. The hub portion of these flaps are alike but the leaf portions are oifset; that is, the center line radially of the annulus of the leaf of each flap is displaced with respect to the center line of the hub portion. Polishingwheels in accordance with this invention' may include segments in which this ofiset, or centerline displacement, is in one sense and other segments in which this 'oifset is in. the opposite sense. Alternatively polishing wheels in accordance with this invention may include segments. of flaps including the offsets and segments not including the oiisets. In either case, the wheel consists of leaf segments having their ends displaced axially with reference to each other. In accordance with the broader aspects of this invention, the flaps of one type and the flaps of the second type could alternate.

The flaps are usually cut from a strip, or other expanse of cloth by a die. Typically the cloth has an abrasive face and a non-abrasive face. The flaps having leaves oiiset in one direction with respect to the hub portion may be cut with the abrasive face of the cloth facing the approach of the die and the flaps having leaves offset in the opposite direction may be cut with the non-abrasive face of the cloth facing the approach of the die.

In accordance with this invention polishing apparatus is provided including a plurality of ganged polishing wheels in accordance with this invention mounted on flanges to be rotated in polishing relationship with work. The wheels in the gang are interlaced with an outwardly offset segment of each wheel extending into the space defined by an abutting inwardly offset segment and the adjacent outwardly offset segments of an adjacent wheel.

The novel features considered characteristic of this invention are described generally above. For a better understanding of this invention, both as to its organization and as to its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, reference is made to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a view in end elevation of polishing apparatus in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is a view in perspective, exploded, showing only the polishing wheels of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view in perspective, enlarged and exploded, showing the abutting flaps of each segment at a junction of adjacent segments of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a view in perspective of a polishing wheel embodying a modification of this invention;

FIG. 5 is a view in perspective, enlarged and exploded, showing the flaps at a junction of adjacent segments. of the wheel shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a view in perspective, enlarged and exploded, showing flaps embodying a modification of this invention, at the junction of the adjacent segments of a wheel including these flaps;

FIG. 7 is a view in end elevaton of a wheel embodying a further modification of this invention;

FIG. 8 is a view in perspective, enlarged and exploded, of the abutting flaps of each segment at a junction of adjacent segments of the wheel shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a view in perspective illustrating the method of producing flaps in accordance with this invention; and

FIG. is a view in perspective, enlarged and exploded, showing llaps embodying a modification of this invention, at the junction of adjacent segments of a wheel including these flaps.

FIGS. 1, 2, 3 show a polishing assembly including at Each flap 21 (FIG. 3) is abrasive on one face 38 and non-abrasive on the opposite face and includes a stem 33 from which a sheet or plate or leaf 35 extends. The leaf 35 may be generally rectangular or of any other suitable form. The stem 33 has notches 39 and 41 and 43 and 45 which are symmetrically disposed with respect to the center line (ll of the stem radially of the annulus. The stem 33 also has slits 47 and 49 which terminate in holes 51 and 53. The slits and holes are symmetrically disposed with reference to the line CL. The leaf 35 is offset (to the right in FIG. 3) with respect to the stem 33 so that the center line CL1 of the leaf is displaced to the right with respect to the center line CL. Each flap 23 is similar to the flap 21 except that the leaf 55 is offset oppositely and the center line GL4 of the leaf 55 is displaced in a direction opposite to that of 35 with respect to the center line CL3 of the stem 57.

In making the polishing wheels W1 and W2, the flaps 21 and 23 are strung on rings 61 and 63 which are slipped through the slits 47 and 49 and 65 and 67 and nest in the holes 51 and 53 and 69 and 71. The flaps 21 are strung on the rings 61 and 63 to form the quadrants 25 and 29 and the flaps 23 are strung on the rings to form the quadrants 27 and 31. The stems 33 and 57 are coincident on the annulus as are also the holes 51 and 69 and 53 and 71. The grooves 39, 41, 43, 45 and the corresponding grooves in flaps 23 form peripheral notches near the end of the annulus. The quadrants 25 and 29 of leaves 35 are offset with respect to the quadrants 27 and 31 of leaves 23.

The flaps 21 and 23 are tightly packed in the rings 61 and 63 and the stems 33 and the stems 57 are now bonded together to form a solidified core or hub 81 for each wheel. The bonding is effected by an adhesive as dis closed in the Schaffner application which is injected be tween the faces of the stems. The leaves 35 and 55 extend as separate sheets from this hub 81.

In the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the wheels are provided with end plates or flanges and 77 which engage the grooves in the hubs 81. The flanges are driven through a shaft 79 to drive the wheels W1 and W2. (See FIG. 8 Schalfner application.) The quadrants of wheels W1 and W2 are interlaced. The quadrant 25 of wheel W2 extends int-o the space defined by the abutting face 83 of quadrant 25 of wheel W1 and the protruding edges 85 and 87 of adjacent quadrants 27 and 31 of wheel W1. The other quadrants are correspondingly related. Because of the interlacing of the quadrants 25-31 of wheels W1 and W2, the space on the work being polished between, say, quadrants 25 of wheels W1 and W2 is polished by the offset portion of quadrant 27 of wheel W1 when the wheels are rotated clockwise (as viewed from the right of FIG. 1) or of quadrant 31 when the wheels are rotated counterclockwise. The work is thus buffed without streaks.

The wheel W3 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 includes anjannulus of four quadrants 91, 93, 95, 97. Quadrants 91 and 95'include flaps 99 of one type and quadrants 93 and 97 flaps 101 of a second type. The flaps are abrasive on one face and non-abrasive on the other.

Flap 99 has a hub portion 103 and a leaf portion 105;

the hub portion 103 terminates in an angular or inclined 4 a slit 113 terminating in a hole centrally in the hub portion. The leaf portions consist of fingers 114 and 115 separated by a slot 117 of appreciable width. The flap 191 is similar to flap 99 except that the inclined terminal 119 slopes oppositely to the terminal 107.

The flaps 99 and 101 are assembled on the wheel W3 with the hub portions 103 and 121 coincident and the holes 111 and 123 coincident and a wire 125 through the holes. Because the terminals 107 and 119 slope in opposite directions, the quadrants 91 and 95 are offset with respect to the quadrants 93 and 97 and the fingers 113 of flaps 99 extend across the slots 127 between the fingers 129 and 131 of flaps 101 while the fingers 131 extend across the slots 117 of flaps 99. As the wheel W3 rotates while engaging the Work, the surfaces between the finger-s 114 and 115 and 129 and 131 are wiped and the slots 117 and 127 between the fingers produce no streaks. Wheels W3 may be ganged and interlaced in the same manner as wheels W1 and W2. Because the flaps 99 and 101 have fingers 113 and 115 and 129 and 131, these wheels are highly flexible or yieldable in operation and readily conform themselves to the surface being polished.

The flaps 132 and 133 shown in FIG. 6 are the flaps of adjacent segments of a wheel (not shown). Flap 132 is the boundary flap of one segement and flap 133 the boundary flap of the adjacent segment abutting 132. Flaps 132 and 133 are similar to flaps 21 and 23 except that the leaves of flaps 132 and 133 are each subdivided into fingers 135 and 137 separated by slots 139 and 141 respectively. As in the case of the flaps 99 and 101 of FIG. 5, the slots 139 and 141 are distinct openings and not mere slits. The slots 131 may have a width of as great as A" or /2".

The flaps 132 and 133 are offset in opposite senses. The center line GL6 of the leaves of flap 132 is displaced with respect to the center line CL5 of the stem 143. The center line CL8 of the leaves of flap 133 is displaced with respect to the center line CL7 of the stem 145 in the opposite sense. The displacement is appreciably less than the width of the fingers 135 and 137 so that the fingers 137 and 139 mutually overlap each other and streaks are precluded.

In the modification shown in FIG. 10 the stems 201 of flaps 203 are offset with respect to the leaves 205 of these flaps while the stems 207 of flaps 209 are aligned with, or centered with respect to, the leaves 211. In the wheel the stems 201 and 207 are aligned so that the leaves 205 and 211 overlap. In accordance with the broader aspects of this invention, the overlap of the fingers for a single wheel may be achieved by relative displacement of the slots rather than the leaves. In the wheels shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, overlap of fingers as well as overlap at the edges of ganged wheels is achieved. 7

The wheel W4, shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 includes segments 151, 153, 157 (one not shown). Segments 151 and the one not shown include flaps 159 that are not offset and segments 153 and 157 include similar flaps 161 the leaves of which are not offset butwider than the leaves of flaps 159. The center lines GL9 and CL10 of the stems 165 and the leaves 167 of the flaps 159 are coextensive and the center lines CL11 and CL12 of the stems 169 and the leaves 171 of flaps 161 are also coextensive. The excess in width of the leaves of flap 161 is such that the leaves 171 overlap leaves 167 at both radial edges. A second wheel W5 interlaced with Wheel W4 is shown in FIG. 7. Since the leaves of flaps 161 extend beyond the stems, the flanges connected to the hubs of such wheels must be widened or spacers must be inserted between the flanges of such ganged wheels as W4 and W5. These spacers should preferably be of a material having a high coeficient of friction.

FIG. 9 shows a method of producing flaps such as 21 and 23 in a single operation. The flaps are produced from a plurality of layers 181 and 183 of cloth abrasive on one face and non-abrasive on the opposite face. The flaps are cut from the cloth by a die 135 which engages the cloth in cutting relationship. The die may have the form of flap 21 or flap 23. The layers 181 and 183 of cloth are placed With the abrasive face 187 of certain layers 181 facing the direction of approach of the die and the non-abrasive face 1259 of certain other layers 183 facing the approach of the die. If the die has the form of flap 21, the flapsout from layers 181 have the form of flap 21 and the flaps cut from layers 183 have the form of flap 23.

In the practice of this invention the flaps may also be cut from a single layer of cloth. In this case, a number of ganged dies are usually provided. These dies may, for example, have the form of flap 2t. Flaps 21 are then cut with the abrasive face of the cloth facing the approach of the dies. Then flaps 23 are cut with the same dies and with the non-abrasive face of the cloth facing the approach of the dies.

While preferred embodiments of this invention have been disclosed herein, it is realized that many modifications thereof are feasible. This invention then is not to be restricted except insofar as is necessitated by the spirit of the prior art.

I claim as my invention:

1. A polishing wheel for polishing an article including an annulus of flaps, the radially inner surfaces of said flaps being bonded together along a predetermined length radially from the inner ends of said flaps to form a solid hub for said wheel and the remaining portions of said flaps extending as leaves from said hubs, the hub portions of said flaps being circumferentially aligned, said annulus being formed of a plurality of segments, the leaf portions of the flaps of certain of said segmentsbeing offset with respect to the hub portions and the leaf portions of the flaps of at least one segment contiguous to one of said certain segments being aligned with the hub portions of the flaps of said one segment.

2. A polishing wheel for polishing an article including an annulus of flaps, the radially innerv surfaces of said flaps being strung on a solid ring and bonded together along a predetermined length radially from the inner ends of said flaps to form a hub for said wheel and the remaining portions of said flaps extending as leaves from said hubs, the hub portion of each of said flaps having at least one hole and said hub portions being bonded so that the holes of the flaps in the annulus coincide to define a closed annular hole in said hub, a solid ring in said annular hole, the distance generally parallel to the axis of said annulus from a radial line through the holes of certain of said flaps to at least one outer radial edge of the leaf portions of said last-named flaps being greater than the corresponding distance for certain others of said flaps so that during a polishing operation said certain leaves polish an area of said article extending beyond the area polished by said certain others of said flaps on the said edge of said one outer radial edge.

3:. A polishing wheel for polishing an article including an annulus of flaps, the radially inner surfaces of said flaps being bonded together along a predetermined length radially from the inner ends of said flaps to form a hub for said wheel and the remaining portions of said flaps extending as leaves from said hubs, the flaps in said annulus including a flap of a first type and a flap of a second type, the flaps of each of said types having an abrasive coating on one side and a non-abrasive coating on the other, and said flaps being so formed that when said flap of said first type and said flaps of said second type are placed with their hub portions coincident and the abrasive surface of one flap abutting the non-abrasive surface of the other, the leaf of one flap overlaps the leaf of the other flap on one side and the leaf of said other flap overlaps the leaf of said one flap on the other side.

4. A polishing wheel for polishing an article including an annulus of flaps, the radially inner surfaces of said flaps being bonded together along a predetermined length radially from the inner ends of said flaps to form a hub for said wheel and the remaining portions of said flaps extending as leaves from said hubs, the flaps in said annulus including a flap of a first type and a flap of a second type, the flaps of each of said types having an abrasive coating on one side and a non-abrasive coating on the other, and said flaps being so formed that when said flap of said first type and said flap of said second type are placed with their hub portions coincident and the abrasive surface of one flap abutting the non-abrasive surface of the other, the leaf of one flap overlaps the leaf of the other on at least one side.

5. A polishing wheel for polishing an article including an annulus of flaps, the radially inner surfaces of said flaps being bonded together along a predetermined length radially from the inner ends of said flaps to form a hub for said Wheel and the remaining portions of said flaps extending as leaves from said hub, said hub intersecting planes through its ends which are perpendicular to the axis of said wheel in closed circular bands, certain of said leaves being axially offset with respect to others of said leaves so that during a polishing operation said certain leaves polish an area of said article displaced with respect to the area polished by said other leaves.

6. Polishing apparatus including at least a pair of contiguous ganged polishing wheels for polishing an article having a dimension of substantial length generally parallel to the axis of said wheels, each said wheel including an annulus of flaps having a solid generally circularly cylindrical hub, each flap having a hub portion in said hub and a leaf portion extending radially from said hub portion, the leaf portions of certain of the flaps of said last-named wheel around the periphery of said annulus being displaced in a direction generally parallel to said axis with respect to the leaf portions of others of said flaps, the generally coextensive leaves of the flaps of said wheels being displaced oppositely so that the peripheries of said wheels overlap, whereby each of said adjacent wheels in operation polishes portions of the surface of said article extending generally parallel to said axis be yond the end of said other wheels.

7. A polishing wheel for polishing an article including an annulus of flaps extending from a solid central hub, each of said flaps having a hub portion in said hub and a leaf portion extending radially from said hub portion, the leaf portions of certain of said flaps extending beyond said hub in the direction of the axis of said annulus on one side of said hub and the leaf portion of certain others of said flaps extending beyond said hub in the direction of said axis on the opposite side of said hub, so that in operation the area of said article polished by said certain flaps extends beyond the area of said article polished by said certain others of said fiaps in the direction of said axis.

8. A polishing Wheel for polishing an article including an annulus of flaps, the radially inner surfaces of said flaps being bonded together along a predetermined length radially from the inner ends of said flaps to form a hub for said wheel and the remaining portions of said flaps extending as leaves from said hubs, the hub portions of said flaps being circumferentially aligned, each of said leaves having at least one radial slot so that said leaves are subdivided into fingers, and the leaf portions of cer tain but not all of said flaps being offset with respect to the hub portions of said certain flaps to such an extent that the fingers of the leaves of said certain flaps overlap the slots of the other flaps so that the portion of said article left unpolished by reason of a slot between a pair of fingers of said certain leaves is polished by the fingers of said others of said leaves.

9. A polishing wheel for polishing an article including an annulus of flaps, the radially inner surfaces of said flaps being bonded together along a predetermined length radially from the inner ends of said flaps to form a hub for said Wheel and the remaining portions of said flaps extending as leaves from said hubs, the flaps in said annulus including a flap of a first type and a flap of a second type, and said flaps being so formed that When said flap of said first type and said flap of said second type are placed with their hub portions coincident and the leaves abutting, the, leaves of the flaps of said first type overlap the leaves of the flaps of said second type on at least one side.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 8 2,808,689 10/57 Thomson et al 51-337 2,821,819 2/58 Bernsteinet a1 51-337 2,842,902 7/58 Miller et a1. 51337 I 2,948,090 8/ 60 Klingspor 51-337 5 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,243,003 8/60 France.

References Cited by the Applicant UNITED STATES PATENTS 15 ROBERT C. RIORDON, Primary Examiner.

LESTER M. SWINGLE, Examiner. 

9. A POLISHING WHEEL FOR POLISHING AN ARTICLE INCLUDING AN ANNULUS OF FLAPS, THE RADIALLY INNER SURFACES OF SAID FLAPS BEING BONDED TOGETHER ALONG A PREDETERMINED LENGTH RADIALLY FROM THE INNER ENDS OF SAID FLAPS TO FORM A HUB FOR SAID WHEEL AND THE REMAINING PORTIONS OF SAID FLAPS EXTENDING AS LEAVES FROM SAID HUBS, THE FLAPS IN SAID ANNULUS INCLUDING A FLAP OF A FIRST TYPE AND A FLAP OF A SECOND TYPE, AND SAID FLAPS BEING SO FORMED THAT WHEN SAID FLAP OF SAID FIRT TYPE AND SAID FLAP OF SAID SECOND TYPE 